"The camera pans away because the camera was jostled, the camera man was shoved around too, a bunch of people were being shoved as the protesters tried to tear down the tent. A tent which wasn’t their property. They were tearing down a tent with women and children in it, and the man who was coming at me I think tripped over the tent peg, fell towards me, and that’s when I said ‘You assaulted me.’ Right after that he sucker punched me. My guess is that he was on his way down, he grabbed me, and started shoving me.”

---If Crowder knew the guy tripped and fell into him–which is the story he’s telling here–then it was awful dishonest of him to claim he was assaulted there in the video BEFORE the guy ever got up or threw the first punch.

However the guy went down–and even if he believed Steven Crowder put him down, somehow–trying to clock Crowder repeatedly wasn’t the moral/spiritual/legal response. (I don’t know where justice will come down on this, since it’ll probably be one guy’s word against the other’s, with video that isn’t conclusive about who did what first…assuming that matters, that is.) But eye-for-an-eye caveman behavior is a part of who we are, and there’s some aspect of “being a man” that calls for it, which for me anyway, makes the response to being knocked off one’s feet and thinking it was done on purpose understandable…Still subject to civilized law and Christian standards of behavior, but understandable.

The fact that Crowder stated ahead of time that he was there to prove that union folks were thugs, AND the fact that he made the knowingly false assault claim above–in real time in the video, AND that he intentionally edited the fall out of the video he released on youtube, AND that he has yet to file charges with the police–instead walking this weird tightrope between “I’m a victim” / “I’m an MMA tough guy” and taking part in the vaguely vigilante-looking “wanted/reward” postings on various rightwing websites, all suggests to me that something isn’t quite Christmas morning with his version of events…even if he’s telling you the truth, and honestly played no part in the union guy’s initial fall…but I’m suspicious as to whether that’s the case, as well… (…And not only that… This isn’t the first time Mr Crowder has claimed to be assaulted–by a woman, the last time. How many wolves are in these pastures, anyway?)

One other thing… It sure looked to me like from “Tony’s” appearance at :33 to the edit at :38, he was focused on and arguing with the guy in the grey hat/black earmuffs to Crowder’s left, NOT Crowder. Post edit, that guy goes out of frame, and I never notice him again. (Even in the FoxNews less edited version, the guy kinda slips away.) I don’t know how significant that is, but I did notice it…and that I think you’re misstating the facts to say that “Tony” was actually approaching Crowder in those 5 seconds. (Part of me even wonders whether it was the Gray Hatted Man who knocked “Tony” down…)

ADDED: Not an admission that Steven Crowder was himself responsible for "Tony" ending up on the ground, but he's obviously aware that the man did not simply trip over a tent post, and an admission that he himself was among the people who "got into a physical confrontation with the union activists.":

However, during an interview with a conservative blogger, Crowder noted that the scuffle began when pro-union protesters tried to bring down the white tent on the site provided by the group Americans for Prosperity.

The Fox News contributor then stated that he and other people defending the canopy did get into a physical confrontation with the union activists.

“We didn’t get violent with them, but we did try and push them off the tent,” he said, adding that the reason the man was seen getting up off the ground was because he was one of the people who were pushed away from the tent and fell to the ground as a result.